Pallet support and packages utilizing the same



June 20, 1967 w. H. GOODING PALLET SUPPORT AND PACKAGES UTILIZING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 9, 1964 R U 6 WW m wwBw fl w E 0A 3 0 2 2 A L um 34 34 34 FIG. 6.

n 1 1 w. H. GOODING 3,3 3 8 PALLET SUPPORT AND PACKAGES UTILIZING THE SAME Filed Nov. 9, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

I V/LLAQD H 6000mm Eon/A20 0. 0152mm A Tram/5y United States Patent 3,326,368 PALLET SUPPORT AND PACKAGES UTILIZING THE SAME Willard H. Gooding, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Western Velo & Cement Specialties Co., Los Augeles, Califi, a corporation of California Filed Nov. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 409,773 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The package of this patent is made up of at least two pallet supports and three bags of material. Each of the pallet supports has a substantially coplanar panel and a support for the panel. The support has a base and a top with a panel positioned on the top to define shelves on the top of the base on opposite sides of the panel. Bags of materials are located on the shelves and against the panels and a strap extends around the bags of materials to retain the bags in engagement with the panels. This makes a unitary structure of a plurality of bags of materials which may be readily handled as a unit.

Transportation of goods is necessary to the growth and continued prosperity of the modern economy. Such transportation must be economic so that the goods can be delivered at as reasonable at price as possible. A considerable part of the transportation cost of some items is the necessary handling in moving such materials of commerce from their point of manufacture to their point of use. Labor is a significant factor in most material movements, so it becomes convenient and economic to package these materials of commerce in such a way that they may be moved with a minimum of labor expenditure. In the handling of packaged material, such as bags of cement, bags of concrete mixes and mortar mixes, bags of sugar and the like, such bags have been individually handled in the past. Such individual handling has been aided by conveyors, but still a man had to place the packaged material on the conveyor, and another man had to take it off and pack and position it within the vehicle in which it was to be transported. Similar effort was required upon reaching the destination. The piling of such bags on a pallet has been unsuccessful, for the motion of the transportation vehicle has caused the bags of material to slide around until it was unstable upon the pallet. Then, when the pallet was removed from the vehicle the bagged material would fall oif with consequent considerable breakage.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a pallet support structure particularly useful in creating a package out of a plurality of bags of material.

It is another object of this invention to provide an inexpensive pallet structure which may be disposable, if desired, but is of such rigid construction as to be reuasble, should economic circumstances so require.

It is another object of this invention to provide a package comprised of a plurality of separate bags of materials of commerce with the separate bags bound together and incorporating a pallet structure therein so as to provide a palletized package.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following portion of the specification, the claims and the attached drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a package with parts broken away showing the utilization of the pallet support of this invention;

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FIG. 2 is an enlarged isometric view of the embodiment of the pallet support illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of another embodiment of the pallet support of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view on reduced scale of the package of FIG. 7 utilizing the pallet support of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view showing .a larger package formed of three of the packages of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view showing two of the larger packages of FIG. 5 in stacked arrangement;

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of a package with parts broken away showing utilization of another embodiment of the pallet support of this invention;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged isometric view of the embodiment of the pallet support illustrated in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front elevational view showing a plurality of the packages of the embodiments of FIG. '7;

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of another em bodiment of the pallet support of this invention;

FIG. 11 is a partial elevational view, with parts broken away, of another embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 12 is a front elevational view of another embodiment of the pallet support of this invention.

SUMMARY As an aid to understanding this invention it can be stated in essentially summary form that it is directed to a pallet support and packages utilizing the pallet support. The pallet support comprises an upright panel which terminates in a relatively wide and relatively thick foot. When several of the pallet supports are utilized in a package, the panel is located between several bags containing materials of commerce and one or more are placed around the bags to hold them in position. The foot on each pallet support extends below the bags to hold them above the floor or the supporting surface. The feet are of such dimension and configuration as to provide adequate support to hold the package, and are spaced in such a manner that the feet provide openings therebetween for the forks of a fork-lift truck. Thus, the entire package can be handled as a unit. Strapping holds the bags together to form a unitary package while the panels, which extend between the bags, prevents shifting of the bags within the package. In an alternative embodiment, the panel may be sufficiently wide as to be engaged by the strapping to provide additional interrelated support. Thus, unitary packages are provided 'by a first set of pallet supports inter-engaged with bags which are strapped together, and a plurality of these unitary packages may be strapped together to form an even larger package. The rigidity and strength of the packages is such that they may be stacked on top of each other.

In another embodiment of this invention the pallet support extends upwardly above the bags of material so that the package utilizing these pallet supports may be readily lifted from the top by engaging in the portion extending upwardly. When such packages are stacked on top of the each other, this upwardly extending portion may get in the way thus it is arranged so that it can readily 'be folded down. If reinforcing is desired in this embodiment such can be incorporated by installation of reinforcing wire mesh or the like Within the pallet support so as to provide greater strength and load distribution for lifting purposes.

DESCRIPTION This invention will be understood in greater detail by reference to the following portion of the specification wherein the drawings are described. The preferred em bodiment of the pallet support is generally indicated at 10 and is best seen in FIG. 2. The pallet support 10 is preferably made up of a single sheet of material which extends upward to form planar portions 12 and 14. The planar portions 12 and 14 define the upright panel 16. The material may be of corrugated cardboard or some other material of relative flexibility, moderate strength and low cost. The planar portions 12 and 14 are preferably secured together, such as by staples 18 and may also be glued together to provide the panel 16 with maximum strength. Intermediate the ends of the material forming the planar portions 12 and 14, the material is formed into a foot or support 20. This support has a base 22, which is of generally planar bottom configuration and acts as the portion that engages the ground or the floor upon which the pallet support is placed. The material is bent around curves 24 and 26 so that it again extends parallel to the base 22 in shelves 28 and 30. It is from these shelves that the planar portions 12 and 14 extend upward to form the panel 16.

In order to maintain separation of the base 22 from the shelves 28 and 30, spacer 32 is placed therebetween. Spaced 32 is preferably of light, inexpensive material and may be made of corrugated cardboard or cardboard honeycomb material having its opening extending upward, parallel to the plane of panel 16. The spacer 32 is preferably glued in place so as to provide maximum strength from the honeycomb material. Alternatively, this spacer 32 may be built of wood framing or the like, should such be desirable, but for best economy and best strength carboard honeycomb material is considered most desirable.

The relative dimensions and sizes of the pallet support 10 can best be understood with reference to complete packages which utilize the pallet support. Referring now to FIG. 1, package 34 employs three of the pallet supports 10 which are utilized to package together eight bags 36 of materials of commerce. In the specific illustration, and in the preferred embodiment, the bags 36 are standard 94-pound bags of cement. In the package 34 a first row 38 of three bags 36 in assembled in face to face relationship, and a second row 40 of bags 36 is similarly assembled. A center pallet support 10 is located therebetween in such a manner that the lower inside corners of the bags 36 in each of the rows 38 and 40, respectively, rest upon shelves 30 and 28 of the pallet support 10, therebetween.

Similarly, an additional, end pallet support 10 is placed under the outside edge corners of rows 38 and 40 to support the bags in these rows upon their respective shelves. Single bags 42 and 44 are placed outside of the latter pallet supports 10 and are positioned with their flat sides against the panel 16 thereof. The single bags 42 and 44 also rest upon the respective shelves of these outer pallet supports. Straps 46 and 48 are engaged around the bags in the package 34 to make a unitary structure of the entire package 34..

In the package 34 it can be seen that the supports are spaced apart so as to permit opening therebetween. This makes the entire package 34 adaptable to be picked up as a single unit by fork lift equipment. A top plan view of the package 34 is seen in reduced scale in FIG. 4.

An alternative embodiment of the pallet support 10 is indicated at 50 in FIG. 3. The pallet support 50 is of the same general construction as the pallet support 10 and comprises a generally planar upright panel 52 which is preferably made up of two thicknesses of corrugated cardboard. The panel 52 is stapled together at 54 and has a support 56. The support 56 is identical to the support 20, previously described. In the embodiment of the pallet support 50, the panel 52 is wider in the direction along the length of the support 56 so that it has terminal edges 58 and 60. The distance between the edges 58'and 60 is greater than the width of a single bag 36, and is greater than the total thickness of three bags. Thus, the edges 58 and 60 extend beyond the bags 36 when they are made up into a package similar to the package 34. Notches 62,

64, 66 and 68 are cut into the edges 58' and 60 to provide a location to engage the straps which extend around the package. Thus, the pallet support 50 is also engaged by the straps extending around the package to make the package a firm, single unit.

The package 34 of FIGS. 1 and 4 is a single unit, and where it is desirable that a larger package be handled for convenience and labor saving, a plurality of single unit packages 34 can be positioned together and held together to make a multiple unit package, as is seen in FIG. 5. In this case, strap 78 extends all the way around three of the packages 34 to form a multiple unit package 72. As is illustrated in FIG. 6, the strap '7 0 is preferably wider so as to aid in distributing the load upon the bags 36 to prevent their tearing. As is further illustrated in FIG. 6, it is seen that the multiple unit packages 72 may be stacked one upon the other for the size of the support 20 permits distribution of load to an adequate extent to prevent damage to the tops of the bags 36 in each of the unitary packages 34.

In use, the unit size packages 34 are assembled at the place where the material is bagged so that the material can be handled in such packages directly from the immediate bagging location to the point where materials in quantities smaller than the packages 34 .are required. In other words, the package 34 is assembled as soon as possible, and it is moved through the transportation and channels of commerce as far as possible, until the package size of the unitary package 34 is too large. Thereupon, the straps 46 and 48 are removed and the material is handled again as individual bags 36. Thus, the benefits of storage and transportation of the material in large units is gained, together with retention of the benefit of being able to readily reduce the unitary package 34 into individual bags 36. Furthermore, as previously described, in some cases it may be desirable to assemble a plurality of the packages 34 into a large multiple unit package 72 for additional benefits with respect to transportation. The larger, multiple unit package can be broken down into single unit packages when such is desired.

While the pallet supports 10 are of inexpensive construct-ion, they may be reused as is necessary. Furthermore, the lightness of their construction does not add materially to the total weight of the package 34 so that very little increase in transportation cost due to increase in weight is experienced by their use.

Referring now to the embodiment of this invention as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, this embodiment of the pallet support is generally indicated at 74. In this embodiment, also, the pallet support 74 is formed of planar portions 76 and 78 which are secured together to form a panel 80. Securement is preferably in the form of glue between the planar portions and further securement is obtained by staples 82 and 84. The bottom termination of pallet support 74 is support 86, identical with the support 20 of the previous embodiment. In the embodiment of 'FIGS. 7 through 9 the height of the panel is such that it extends above shelves 88 to such an extent that the top 90 extends above bags 36, see FIG. 7. At a distance up panel 80 above shelf 88 equal to the height of bags 36 the panel is arranged for folding by means of fold line 92. The portion of panel 80' extending above fold line 92, the top 90, is provided with engagement means such as hole 94 so that a package using pallet support 74 may be readily engaged and lifted.

Such package is seen in FIG. 7 where a plurality of bags 36 is secured to a plurality of pallet support \74 by means of straps 96 and 98. Thus, package 100 is formed which is of the same nature as the package in FIG. 1. In the package 100, however, as is previously described, the tops 90 extend above the bags 36. Thus, bar 102 is engaged through the hole 94 for division of load between the several pallet supports 74 to aid in the lifting of the package 100. Any hook can be engaged with bar 102 and the entire package 100 mechanically raised and moved with economy of labor.

A plurality of packages 100, as is shown in FIG. 9, can readily be secured together by strap 104 to form a larger package 106, comparable to the multi-unit package 72 of FIG. 6. The multi-unit package 106 may also be handled by means of the holes 94 together with appropriate lifting equipment. When one multi-unit package 106 is placed on top of another such multi-unit package 106, as is shown in FIG. 9, the top 90 of each of the pallet supports 74 can readily be folded down along the fold line 92 so that they can be securely stacked without damage to the pallet supports 74 in the lower multi-unit package 106.

As is seen in FIG. 11, it may be desirable to place a wire cloth 108 between the planar portions 76 and 78 of the pallet support 74 so as to serve as a load distributing means to distribute the lifting load at hole 94. Such wire cloth does not interfere with the foldability along the fold line 92.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 has a corresponding embodiment shown in FIG. 10. The pallet support 110 in FIG. is identical to the pallet support 74 of FIG. 8, except for its greater width. The width of pallet support 110 is greater than the width of bags 30 so that the terminal edges of the pallet support 110 extend therepast. Cut into these terminal edges are notches 112 and 114 in such a position that the straps 96 and 98, respectively, can engage in the notches to further restrain the pallet support 110 with respect to the bags 36 with which it is assembled. Thus, the pallet support 110- is readily usable in each of the environments indicated with respect to the previously described pallet supports to provide a package of substantial strength, rigidity and utility.

A further modification of the pallet support is shown in the embodiment of FIG. 12. In this embodiment the pallet support is generally indicated at 116. The pallet support 116 has an upstanding panel 118 which has a plurality of holes 120 therethrough. When a package is made up, similar to the previously described packages, utilizing the pallet support 116, the adjacent bags partially enter the holes so that very much increased friction is developed between the bags and panel 118 in the plane of the panel. This helps the rigidity of the finished package structure. It is clear that holes, such as holes 120, through any of the previously described panel embodiments improve-s them in this respect.

As has been indicated with respect to the pallet supports of FIGS. 1 through 6, the pallet supports of FIGS. 7 through 12 are preferably made of corrugated cardboard of such grade as to be suitable for this use. Such cormgated cardboard is preferable because it is an inexpensive material and provides a light, strong package which does not substantially add to the shipping cost. Furthermore, such material is useful in repeated use, yet it is sufficiently inexpensive as to permit the pallet supports to be disposed of should return thereof be inconvenient.

This invention having been described in its preferred embodiment, it is clear that it is susceptible to numerous modifications and changes Without the exercise of the inventive faculty. Accordingly, the scope of this invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A unitary package comprising first, second and third bags of material and first and second pallet supports, said first and second pallet supports being substantially identical, each of said pallet supports comprising a panel and a support, said panel being substantially planar and being secured to said support, said support having a base and a top, said panel being positioned on said top so that said top defines first and second shelves, said shelves being spaced from said base, said panel of said first pallet sup port being positioned between and in engagement with said first and second bags of material, said first and second bags of material respectively resting upon said first and second shelves of said first pallet support, said second pallet support being positioned between and in engagement with said second and third bags of material, said second and third bags of material respectively resting upon said first and said second shelves of said second pallet support and a strap extending around said bags of material to retain such bags of material in engagement with said panels.

2. The package of claim 1 wherein said pallet supports comprise unitary pieces of corrugated cardboard material arranged so that two thicknesses of said material define each of said panels, and a spacer is provided in said support to space said shelves from said base.

3. The package of claim 2 wherein there are eight bags of material and three pallet supports, said bags of material and said pallet supports defining .a unitary package.

4. The unitary package of claim 3 wherein said unitary package is positioned adjacent a second substantially identical unitary package in such a position that said panels in said unitary packages are substantially co-planar with respect to each other and a second strap is positioned around both said unitary packages.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,769,535 11/1956 Bruce 206-65 2,788,894 4/1957 Chifrer 20665 3,026,015 3/ 1962 Severn 206- 3,055,497 9/1962 Brunsing 206- 3,111,221 11/ 1963 Chapman et al 20665 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A UNITARY PACKAGE COMPRISING FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD BAGS OF MATERIAL AND FIRST AND SECOND PALLET SUPPORTS, SAID FIRST AND SECOND PALLET SUPPORTS BEINGD SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL, EACH OF SAID PALLET SUPPORTS COMPRISING A PANEL AND A SUPPORT, SAID PANEL BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR AND BEING SECURED TO SAID SUPPORT, SAID SUPPORT HAVING A BASE AND A TOP, SAID PANEL BEING POSITIONED ON SAID TOP SO THAT SAID TOP DEFINES FIRST AND SECOND SHELVES, SAID SHELVES BEING SPACED FROM SAID BASE, SAID PANEL OF SAID FIRST PALLET SUPPORT BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN AND IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND BAGS OF MATERIAL, SAID FIRST AND SECOND BAGS OF MATERIAL RESPECTIVELY RESTING UPON SAID FIRST AND SECOND SHELVES OF SAID FIRST PALLET SUPPORT, SAID SECOND PALLET SUPPORT BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN AND IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SECOND AND THIRD BAGS OF MATERIAL, SAID SECOND AND THIRD BAGS OF MATERIAL RESPECTIVELY RESTING UPON SAID FIRST AND SECOND SHELVES OF SAID SECOND PALLET SUPPORT AND A STRAP EXTENDING AROUND SAID BAGS OF MATERIAL TO RETAIN SUCH BAGS OF MATERIAL IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID PANELS. 